Catch22 has been successful in securing funding as part of a cross-government project to improve outcomes for prison leavers. The Ministry of Justice’s Local Leadership and Integration Fund (LLIF) supports locally-led pilots and Catch22 will focus on the London region.
The programme will look at interventions designed to lowering breaches of licence conditions and recalls, by identifying prison leavers who are at risk of recall, providing support in custody and in the community and exploring a structured alternative to recall.
Latest figures show that in 2020 there were 23,611 recall admissions to custody. More broadly, the cost of reoffending totals £18bn a year.
Catch22 will be working with strategic delivery partners NPS-London, HMPPS London Prison Group (LPG), MOPAC and Public Service Design Practice (PSDP). The model – a scalable Achieving Compliance and Engagement (ACE) model – is designed to reduce the number of service users becoming subject to recall specifically due to non-compliance.
Lisa Smitherman, Director of Justice at Catch22, said:
“Reforming how public services are delivered is a key part of Catch22’s ambition – and this pilot project will do just that. We’re going to be working closely with service users to identify some of the key reasons behind breaching licenses, and work with them to develop a model that reduces the risk of recall.
“We know from our experience that poor relationships with friends and family upon release, and poor relationships with authority figures, including prison officers, is a major factor leading to the breaching of licensing conditions. We also know that a lack of accommodation upon release is a key issue – with 59% of service users on recall citing accommodation as a key concern when they were released.
“Our pilot will offer a structured alternative to recall –a Recall Prevention Service – supporting services users to access the right services and rebuild relationships to reduce license breaches.”